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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381223">Italian Gummy Bears</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Odd_Idea/pseuds/An_Odd_Idea'>An_Odd_Idea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Attempt at Humor, Fear of Flying, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I hope it is, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Platonic Hand-Holding, Protective Peter Parker, almost all comfort, is that a thing?, the best bros</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:35:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,319</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381223</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Odd_Idea/pseuds/An_Odd_Idea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Comfortember prompt 4: Anxiety </p><p>Ned is nervous about flying, but Peter’s there with him.  That’s it, that’s the story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Parker &amp; Ned Leeds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Comfortember 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Italian Gummy Bears</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this instead of checking the news all night</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Logically, it would make sense for Peter not to like flying. His family didn’t exactly have a great track record, after all.</p><p>In reality though, flying was okay, even fun, at lest the second time. The first time he’d been pretty nervous, although that had more to do with potentially freaking out in front of Happy, who might tell Tony, than with the actual flying part. Then he’d crashed a plane himself, but that was really the Vulture’s fault and didn’t count.</p><p>So Peter apparently wasn’t afraid of flying.</p><p>Ned, on the other hand.</p><p>Ned looked about ready to die, and they hadn’t even gotten on the plane yet. </p><p>To be fair, Peter didn’t have it confirmed that flying was what was stressing him out, but it was a likely option. Peter wondered if he could actually see what was on his phone with his leg bouncing so much. Apparently not, because the phone turned off on its own while he was still wondering.</p><p>“Are you okay?” he asked, not quite in a whisper, but softly enough that Betty on Ned’s other side couldn’t hear.</p><p>“I’m... doing great, yeah.” Ned was a terrible liar and they both knew it. “Planes freak me out.”</p><p>Peter almost rattled off the more-likely-to-crash-in-a-car-than-a-plane statistic like every well-meaning friend ever, but he stopped himself just in time. “Do you still want to play Beast Slayer?”</p><p>“Definitely.”</p><p>The screen announced their flight was boarding, and they both started to get up before Betty pulled them back down, saying something about different boarding groups. Ned went back to pretending to look at his phone, bouncing his leg even faster than before.</p><p>“If we have a window seat, do you want it?” Peter asked, just in case being able to look out might help somehow.</p><p>“No,” said Ned.</p><p>When they did board, the plane was much bigger than Peter had expected. He and Ned ended up in the middle of the middle row, sandwiched in between two strangers and as far away from any windows as they could get. Where they were, Peter might worry more about someone with claustrophobia than someone with a fear of flying, but Ned had already claimed the armrest between them, clutching it like they were on a rollercoaster.</p><p>“We’ll be okay,” said Peter, not as convincingly as he might have hoped.</p><p>“Probably,” said Ned, to his surprise. “It’s just a metal tube in the sky, and that’s freaky no matter what it does.”</p><p>Peter couldn’t argue with that. “Beast Slayer?”</p><p>They had just started a round when the captain came on and made everything pause, and then the safety video started while the plane began to move. Peter glanced over at Ned, who <em>really</em> looked about ready to die now. He patted his arm.</p><p>“Are the wings supposed to bounce that much?”</p><p>“I think so?” Peter had admittedly never been on a plane this big before, and he had to agree that it didn’t exactly feel sturdy.</p><p>The engines roared to life, and Peter just hoped the wings were okay as they started to speed up, bumping along the runway.</p><p>“Oh boy,” Ned muttered.</p><p>Peter squeezed his arm onto the armrest, too.</p><p>Even without a window, it was easy to tell when they took off. The ride smoothed out, the seats tilted back slightly, and gravity pressed down on their heads. Peter looked over at Ned again, who was squished back in his seat with his nose scrunched up like he expected something to hit him in the face. They were still in the air though, so the wings must have been okay.</p><p>“Beast Slayer?”</p><p>They played for hours, only stopping to fold out their tray tables and eat the weird airline food. The air was smooth enough that it was almost hard to remember they were on a plane at all, and with the lights turned down to a strange dark blue, it made for a very surreal experience. Ned had relaxed significantly, and after they both started yawning during even the most intense virtual battles, they agreed to stop playing and try to sleep.</p><p>Actually sleeping on a plane proved much more difficult than it had seemed in theory. Ned appeared to have succeeded, his head drooping uncomfortably toward is chest. Peter watched the little plane on the screen flying over the map. It changed every now and then, showing their altitude or the weather at their destination or the number of miles to go, and he watched in a sort of trance. If he just kept watching the little plane, he might doze off soon, too.  </p><p>The seatbelt sign came on. </p><p>Peter had experienced turbulence before, on the way to Germany with Happy (that had been scary, but he’d held it together pretty well because Happy didn’t seem concerned) and this was relatively the same. The plane wobbled, and he held on to the armrest. The wings had better be okay now, because they felt... bendy.</p><p>A particularly hard shudder, and Ned sat straight upright, grabbing for the armrest and finding Peter’s hand instead.</p><p>“This is normal,” said Peter quickly.</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“I think so. It was like this when I went to Germany, anyway.”</p><p>“The time you fought Captain America?”</p><p>“Shh!” Peter hissed, although the two people on either side of them were still sound asleep.</p><p>The plane shuddered again, and he had to admit it was still unnerving, even if he was pretty sure it was fine. He held Ned’s hand back.</p><p>“Peter if we die, I want you to know I love you.”</p><p>“We’re not gonna die.”</p><p>“Also I was the one who ate your gummy bears.”</p><p>“At the Halloween party?” Peter turned to fix him with a look of utmost betrayal. “Dude!”</p><p>“I’m sorry, my eight-year-old brain couldn’t handle the temptation!”</p><p>“You told me Jin’s dog ate them!”</p><p>“I’m sorry! This might be my dying confession and I just wanted you to know!”</p><p>“Dogs can’t eat gummy bears, Ned, I made Ben look it up that night and then I freaked out until I saw her again!”</p><p>“Aaaaa!” Ned whisper-yelled.</p><p>“Aaaaa!” Peter whisper-yelled back. The plane shook, and he looked down to realize they were still holding hands. “We’ll be okay, you know.”</p><p>“You’re sure?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Ned leaned over him to get a look at the map on his screen, making a face at how far it was to go.</p><p>“We could play more Beast Slayer,” Peter offered.</p><p>“I think I’m going to take another anxiety nap.”</p><p>“Good plan.” </p><p>Peter bumped his shoulder against Ned’s as a subtle invitation. Ned took the hint and scooted down in his seat to lay his head on Peter’s shoulder, and he glowed slightly. It was nice being able to actually take care of someone, however small the reason.</p><p>“I’ll watch out for us,” he said before he thought of how little good that would actually do if the plane did go down.</p><p>“Can you fly?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Aw. That would be awesome if you could.”</p><p>“Yeah,” said Peter. “I’m going to try to sleep now.”</p><p>“Me too.”</p><p>Despite how sleepy he felt, Peter didn’t fall asleep. Ned didn’t either, but he kept his head on Peter’s shoulder. The turbulence had lessened a bit, but he still seemed far from at ease, so Peter patted his hand again, and really, if he could just be this sure of actually protecting people, always, that would be nice. That would be really nice.</p><p>“I love you too, you know.”</p><p>“I know,” said Ned. “I’ll buy you gummy bears when we land.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Italian gummy bears. I bet they have all kinds of different flavors.”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“I don’t know. Whatever they like in Italy, I guess.”</p><p>“I’ll buy you French gummy bears.”</p><p>“Aww, thanks.”</p><p>Peter didn’t remember dozing off, but he woke up to no more turbulence, Ned snoring quietly on his shoulder, and a strange craving for gummy bears.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!  Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated, or come visit me on tumblr @an-odd-idea</p><p>Please do not print or reproduce this work outside this site</p></blockquote></div></div>
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